Monday, January 17, 2011

Mom's Taco Salad

I grew up as a Navy brat (that's what they call us military kids). My Dad was deployed pretty frequently. That left my Mom, who also worked outside the home, taking care of us kids by herself, fixing all the house disasters that always seemed to happen the minute Dad left and doing her best to get meals on the table. This was one of those meals. And let me tell ya, it is still a favorite of mine to this day. Looking for a great weeknight meal? Then look no further. Put all the ingredients out and let your kids or guests customize their salad exactly the way they like it.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)

1 packet taco seasoning

Water (whatever the back of your packet of taco seasoning requires)

1 bag of Doritos

1 can dark red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

½ head lettuce, shredded

1 block of medium Cheddar Cheese, shredded

3 tomatoes, diced

1 container of Sour cream

1 bottle of Catalina dressing

Directions:

Brown and drain beef of excess fat. Add packet of taco seasoning (whichever one is your favorite or if you make your own). Add necessary water (following directions on back of package). Let water reduce until the beef mixture is thick and the flavors melded. Turn off heat. Crush a handful (or more) of Doritos and place on plate. Next layer with a little taco beef mixture. Then add whatever toppings you prefer; kidney beans, shredded lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and then lightly drizzle with Catalina dressing.

This is great to double to feed a larger crowd. Have a taco salad bar!

I absolutely love taco salad, and love the way you made it. Catalina dressing is an old all time favorite of mine, that I have a great chicken recipe for, but taco salad? ...yummm!It's a healthy meal, by itself.Thanks for sharing, following your blog, I invite you to visit mine, have a giveaway too!

Among all the mexican food i have tried, taco salad is still my favorite. There is something about this crunchy, spicy cheesy combination that i just can't get enough of. Your taco salad looks wonderful!

How bizare is this? A co-worker of mine gave me this recipe about 15 years ago...and it's almost exactly the same. Only difference is that mine uses cabbage instead of lettuce and tortilla chips instead of the doritos. Try the cabbage sometime, it really gives a crunch to the salad and lets you keep left overs (without the dressing) for a couple of days without wilting!

We make something similar to this pretty often. I add 1 can of Bush's Chili Magic beans to my cooked meat and we have it over Fritos sometimes, sometimes tortilla chips - with whatever toppings people like. Haven't ever tried with Catalina dressing before - I'll have to try that.

Awesome - just found your site and have bookmarked a bunch of recipes! I was a navy brat too, and we also made the same recipe - but with thousand island dressing - and it was tossed together. Looks dreadful but oh so yummy!

I grew up having pretty much this same dish minus the Catalina and the kidney beans replaced with chili beans. We just called this tacos. It was an easier, somewhat cheaper version of tacos to serve to a family of 5. So much easier than stuffing taco shells. The beans also helped to make the meat go further. I still make this today, except I sometimes add a cheese sauce on top.

Hi All, love your site. I always add the juice from a can of Hunts brand (personal favorite) diced tomatoes to the taco seasoning ground meat mixture when cooking instead of water. It adds another great layer of flavor,besides I will be using the canned tomatoes, unless I have summer fresh tomatoes in the recipe topping. Brandie looking forward to trying more of your recipes. You have great instructions and photos!!

Great recipe! I make this every so often, but when they have a throw back & the original Taco flavored Dorito's are available, I make sure to make this! I like to toss the kidney beans in with the meat & let them cook a little with the taco seasoning. I got the recipe from my cousin, she brings it to family gatherings, I always look forward to hers, made the same, but hers just always seems better. My grown children's families come home on Christmas Eve to exchange presents & we like to have a few appetizers & things, this will be part of it this year! Thank you! Diana